Not as anything unique to humanity, but rather as a comment on Sophonts as a whole, from a human who would have very much liked to meet the rest of the universe. -- RecklessPrudence

[AN: I would also love to meet the rest of the universe, but I have terribly slim chances. Hell, it took a minor miracle for me to be able to see SPG]

Thanks to the Vault, the Galactic Alliance had rediscovered Terry Pratchett. It was one of the things Shayde had missed out on because the covers in the book stores were a little weird. She should have embraced the weirdness, it seemed. The man had some very interesting things to say.

"So we can believe the big ones?" said the actress playing Susan StoHelit.

"YES," said the hologram of Death. "JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING."

"They're not the same at all!"

"YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—" Death waved a hand. "AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED."

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

"MY POINT EXACTLY.” The giant skeleton nodded.

And in a way, those things were lies. Lies people told themselves to get through the day. But they were lies made truth through superior effort of will. Cogniscent life made them real. Established systems by which justice, mercy, and duty were manufactured.

We might not have control over all things, thought Shayde, but we make things that should not exist. That had to be a power. Some kind of magic inherent in all thinking beings.